


Orange is The New Black

by KellinStars



Category: Dream Daddy: A Dad Dating Simulator
Genre: Abuse Mentions, Angst, Anxiety, Bullying, Lunest, M/M, Marijuana usage, Over Dose, Self Harm, Suicide, Teenagers, self hatred, under-age drinking
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-02-03
Updated: 2018-03-17
Packaged: 2019-03-12 22:42:25
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 3
Words: 9,063
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13557132
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/KellinStars/pseuds/KellinStars
Summary: The only colour Lucien ever thought about wearing was black, until the silly boy in the orange jacket came into his life.(Collection of one-shot stories of Lucien and Ernest from Dream Daddy.)





	1. I’ll Protect You (One-Shot)

Lucien was a junior. He had gotten this far in this shitty school by keeping his mouth shut and keeping any opinions to himself. All Lucien wanted was to graduate and disappear to a college. Somewhere far away where this shitty school couldn’t haunt him anymore. 

That was all before the freshman boy had changed his entire thinking process. 

Lucien never considered his sexuality much, he assumed he was straight. Never having any reason to believe otherwise; but damn that freshman drove him wild. 

It had to have been the curly brown hair, or the soft smile he had on his face when he passed by Lucien. Lucien didn’t even know the boys name- but spent way too much time thinking about him. 

Lucien didn’t even notice the teacher calling his name until everyone in the class turned to look at him. Anxiety was coursing through his mind as his history teacher placed a piece of paper on his desk. 

“Your father is in the front office.” She said as she walked back to the front. 

Lucien tossed everything into his backpack and took the note in his hand, grateful to leave the class for the day. 

Honestly, Lucien was grateful to leave the school for the weekend he was about to have. 

As Lucien was making his way down the hallway, he felt someone slam into him. 

“S-Shit I’m so sorry- I’m trying to get away from them and I-“ It was the boy with the curly brown hair, tears rolling down his face as he gathered his books from the floor. 

“It’s alright. What’s your name kid? I can help.” Lucien said as he helped the boy, trying to act nicer than he ever wanted to be to other people. 

“Ernest-“ The boy replied before they both heard loud footsteps on the stairs. 

“Shit- I’ll talk later. I need to leave-“ Ernest is running away from Lucien just as fast as he was before running into the boy. 

Damien could tell there was something off about his son when he came into the office, his steps bouncier than before. Almost as if Lucien had forgotten entirely why Damien had come to check him out. 

“Dad I- I think I’m gay.” Lucien said as the car door closed behind him, his heart racing in his chest. 

“How so? You’ve never really seemed interested in either gender before.” Damien asked, not even bothering to start the car. 

Lucien was actually telling Damien something, he felt important to his son again. And after everything that has happened between the two in the past year, Damien felt like Lucien was actually growing. 

“There’s this freshman at the school. At first I’d only seen him from a distance but we ran into each other today. He’s really cute and I don’t know- just his voice makes my heart race.” Lucien explains as he looks down at his hands, picking the nail polish off. 

“Do you at least know the boys name? I think that would be important.” Damien asks, praying that he isn’t prodding too much into his life. 

Lucien had finally told him something important for the first time since his suicide attempt last year. The last thing Damien wanted or even needed was for Lucien so start building his walls up again. 

“Ernest.”

Damien stopped moving and dropped the car keys onto the floor. 

“Hugo’s son?” Damien asked as he watched Lucien dig his nails into his hand. 

“God fucking dammit.” Lucien exasperated as he removed his nails and ran a hand through his hair. 

“Lucien it’s alright. It kind of means you guys have a better shot since you were so close as kids.” Damien says trying to put his hand on Lucien’s shoulder but he shrugs it off. 

“It’s whatever.”

Damien grabs the keys from the floorboard and starts the car, silently driving Lucien to his therapy appointment. The music is filling the silence between them, Lucien picking at his fingers as he stares out he window. 

When Lucien goes inside to his appointment, tears start rolling down Damien’s face. The one time Lucien has actually started to open up about his feelings, he slams the door shut again. Damien had to open his fat mouth and say something. 

—+—+—

The entire weekend, Lucien had worked in the garden. Trying to rid his mind of the boy and forget entirely about the stupid crush he had formed.

As Monday came, Lucien was terrified to go back to school. Just driving to the building had anxiety coursing through his chest. He didn’t know how he was going to sit through Hugo’s class without constantly thinking of his son. 

Before his class, Lucien ducked into the bathroom to try and relieve some of the nerves that were coursing through him. Something about seeing your crushes dad was sending panic through his body and making just a simple English class seem like hell. 

When the door opened, Lucien could immediately hear crying. He didn’t know who it was but it sounded like he was exhausted. The amount of pain that resonated in his sobs, it’s like this was his final cry for help. 

Ernest was trying to wipe the tears off his face as he reached into his pocket for his blade. It was one of many he had in his bedroom or backpack, but this one had to have been the sharpest. 

There was something about the blood that calmed him, maybe it was the fact that he was slowly dying that made him feel better. Or perhaps the smell of his blood was almost therapeutic. 

Ernest could hear footsteps outside the stall he was in. He knew his sobbing was loud but no one ever came into the school bathrooms so he felt safe doing this here. Ernest felt safe in the stall with a blade against his wrist, almost as if the simple action was a security blanket. 

“We can talk about it if you’d like.” Lucien says, he had caught a glimpse of the orange jacket in between the stall slats that it had to be Ernest. 

“G-go ah-away.” Ernest begged, shoving toilet paper under his sleeve and hiding the blade in his pocket. 

“I’m not leaving until you tell me what’s gotten you so upset Ernie.” Lucien says, hoping that the childhood nickname would pull up some kind of memory of how close the two boys once were. 

Ernest opens the stall and almost throws himself into Lucien’s arms, wrapping his own tightly around the goth. Ernest finally felt safe in the embrace, finally having his best friend back after all those years of being alone. 

“I don’t want to be alive anymore.” Ernest whispers as he shoves his face in Lucien’s shoulder. 

“I’ve been on both sides of this battle Ernie. It gets easier.” Lucien says as Ernest shoves off. 

“You’ve got it so fucking easy Bloodmarch! What could possibly make you want to kill yourself? Have you ever listened to your parents scream at each other wishing they never had a child? Do you know what it’s like for your father to smack you around?” Ernest is screaming at Lucien, pulling at his hair and trying to explain everything he was going through. 

“You think a goth kid who has a transgender father is easy living?“ Lucien says back, trying to calm Ernest down in some way. 

Lucien is trying to hug Ernest again, hoping that the simple action could make the boy feel better. If someone had given him a hug like this before he ever hurt himself, he may have been a lot better off. 

“Don’t you dare touch me Lucien. If you cared you would have been there for me when my parents got divorced.” Ernest says as he yanks himself out of Lucien’s grip and leaves the bathroom. 

Lucien stands in the bathroom silent. As he runs his hands through his hair with an exasperated sigh leaving his mouth. He grabs his backpack and heads over to Hugo’s classroom, almost twenty minutes late.

“And where have you been Bloodmarch?” Mr. Vega asks, looking up from his desk. 

Everyone in the class looks over at Lucien, who makes his way over to Hugo’s desk. Kind of crouching down next to it to try and keep what he’s saying between the two of them. 

“I was with your son.” Lucien says as he walks to his desk in the back of the classroom. 

Everyone in the class almost goes silent, as if what Lucien was meaning was that he was out fucking Hugo’s son. Hugo keeps his mouth shut as he runs a hand through his hair. 

“Page 191, all the odd numbered questions on the previous chapters of To Kill A Mockingbird.” Hugo says to Lucien. 

Before Lucien can even get one question answered the bell is signalling that it was time to go to their lunch period. 

“Everyone go- Lucien stay back.” Hugo says as the entire class files out. 

“What are you doing with Ernest?” Hugo says sitting in the desk in front of Lucien, but turned backwards. 

“I heard him crying in the bathroom. I tried to be nice but he basically yelled at me for being a shitty friend and stormed off.” Lucien says as he closes the book. 

“He’s been like that lately it’s nothing you did I can promise you that. Just be nice to the kid, he’s having a really hard time transitioning to high school.” Hugo says as he moves from the desk. 

“Oh- Mr. Vega?” Lucien asks as he stands up from the desk and follows him to the front of the class. 

“If possible, would you give me permission to date your son?” Lucien asks as he stares down to pick the nail polish off his hands.

“If it ever comes along, Yes I do give you permission. Just like you’re father Lucien- you have such amazing manners. But take care of my boy Lucien, if you hurt him I’ll hurt you.” Hugo says before dismissing him to lunch. 

Lucien smiles as he leaves the class, attempting to tuck the loose hair behind his ear but it just falling back in place. He takes the stairs down to the cafeteria and sits in his usual corner, nothing even appetising in the schools cafeteria. 

Let alone did Lucien trust anything to be truly vegetarian. 

From a distance he can see the orange jacket, the curly brown haired boy sitting in the opposite corner of the room. With the split second he looks up from his phone, he watches the hard punch come into contact with his nose. And Ernest running out of the room, the entire cafeteria laughing at him. 

Ernest is holding his nose and taking the stairs up to the second floor teachers lounge. Knowing Hugo would be in there and he could beg his father to let him go home. 

Ernest can feel his nose bleeding, praying to any god above that it’s just a nose bleed and nothing was broken. He didn’t need another reason to hate himself. 

“Whoa- Ernest what happened?” Hugo asks, sitting his son down and tilting his head back. 

“I ran into a fucking pole- What do you think happened? I told you this school sucks and you won’t believe me.” Ernest says as Hugo removes his hand from his face. 

Hugo gets a wet paper towel and hands it over, which Ernest immediately uses to wipe the blood off his face. Hugo sits back down across from Ernest and sighs. 

“I can call someone to come get you and take you home?” Hugo suggests, knowing it’s the only thing Ernest really wanted right now. 

“I can take him home Mr. Vega.” Lucien suggests as he stands in the doorway. 

“I’d rather get punched another time.” Ernest whispers before Hugo hits his arm. 

“Thank you Lucien. You don’t have to stay with him, just make sure he gets inside.” Hugo says as he tosses Lucien the house keys. 

Ernest sighs loudly as he stands and follows Lucien out of the school. The moment they are over by Lucien’s car, he shoves Ernest against the side of it. 

“Whoa- What’s that for?” Ernest says as Lucien softly pushes the hair from his face. 

“I’m sorry for leaving you when you needed me the most. I had my own stuff going on and even tried killing myself- I messed up and I know that now.” Lucien says he leans foreword to press their foreheads together. 

Before Lucien can finish his thought, Ernest is closing the gap between the two boys and lacing his fingers into Lucien’s hair. Ernest is praying that the blood wasn’t in his mouth in any way, or this moment would have been a million times more awkward. 

Lucien pins Ernest to the car a little harder as he pulls his lip between his teeth and nibbles softly. One of Lucien’s hands is on his hip with the other lacing itself in the short hair on his neck.

“Are you willing to give me a shot? Even if this kiss is a one time thing-“ Lucien says, pulling away from the kiss and panting softly. 

“I want more than just one kiss from you.” Ernest says as he pulls at Lucien’s hair, but using his other hand to pull Lucien closer to him. 

“I’d love that.” Lucien removes himself from Ernest and walks around to open the door for him.

Once the two are in the car and driving to Ernest’s house, Ernest is staring out the window. Having deep thoughts about the boy who is holding his hand.

“I was going to kill myself.” Ernest says as they pull into his driveway. 

“If you were to just drop me off- I was going to go kill myself.” Ernest looks over at Lucien and squeezes his hand. 

“It’s so not worth it. The look of sadness and loss in my own fathers face was enough to last me a life time.” Lucien says and Ernest leans over to kiss his cheek.

“Come inside and cuddle with me.” Ernest suggests as he exits the car. 

The couple walk into the home and almost immediately Ernest is dragging Lucien to his bed. Lucien pins Ernest against one of the hallway walls and moves in close as he lifts his chin up with his finger. 

“Or- We stand here and make out?” Lucien suggests as a laugh leaves Ernest’s mouth. 

“I’d prefer that.” 

Ernest connects their lips again, grabbing Lucien’s pants to pull the older male even closer. Begging for someone to touch him and remind him that someone loves him. 

That someone is willing to protect and take care of him.


	2. I Could Have Been A Better Son (Part One of Two)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Ernest wants to be a better son, even if that means leaving behind his family.

Ernest was sitting on the bench on the back porch, hunched over so he could flick the ashes off the joint in his hand. He was crying, tears rolling down his cheeks before he raised his hand to wipe them off with his jacket sleeve. 

Hugo was up at the school teaching, where Ernest should have been if he didn’t sneak out. It was a bad idea since literally everyone knew his father and would tell him Ernest wasn’t there. 

But Ernest didn’t plan on being here when his father came home. 

Ernest wanted to disappear. Smoking got his fathers attention but it didn’t make him realise how much pain he was in. Hugo had no idea how much Ernest hated everything, from his fathers to the way his hair parted. 

His other father didn’t notice when Ernest would walk around without his jacket, to show off the cuts covering both his arms. He didn’t seem to care how much pain he was in, or how Ernest smoked pot in his house. 

Ernest was burning the tips of his fingers of the roach of the joint as he was thinking about everything. He couldn’t feel anything anymore; there was something inside of him that stopped working when he first cut himself. It was like all of his emotions stopped functioning except for the one that could feel sadness, it’s all he could feel at this point. 

He stomped the rest of the joint out and kicked it under the bench, but it’s not like it would matter anyways. His dad couldn’t yell at him if he was dead. 

His phone had a message from Lucien, asking where he was instead of in fifth period. They usually walked together to lunch during fifth period. 

Ernest couldn’t respond, he knew he would tell him his plan and ruin everything. He hated his little crush on Lucien, how Lucien could get anything out of him with the simplest of questions. 

Ernest flipped his phone over and headed to the kitchen and into the cabinet to the left of the fridge. This cabinet contained every medicine that was ever used, from cough medicine to pain killers to throat lozenges. 

He reaches for the Aleve that’s on the top shelf, just barely able to reach the bottle and grip it. As he brings it down he turns to grab a cup and fill it with water. Something to down the large amount of pills with, if he did survive this at least he would have fucked up his liver. 

There’s a knock at the door and Ernest tightens his grip on the bottle. The last thing he wanted was someone to stop him from doing what he wanted to do. Ernest dumped the bottle onto the counter and grabbed a decent handful before throwing them in his mouth and swallowing. 

“I know your in there dumbass.. I can see your bike in the yard.” Lucien says knocking on the door harder. 

Lucien sighs and walks to the side of the house, jumping up to grip the top of the fence and climb up it. His combat boots give him a decent grip to the wood and allow him to climb up, then land safely on the other side. He walks to the back door and slides it open, closing it behind him. 

Ernest is sitting on the couch, playing with the sleeves of his jacket and sniffling. It’s obvious that something is wrong but not too obvious what Ernest has done just minutes prior to Lucien coming into the house.

“Hey buddy, you alright?” Lucien asks as he sits down next to him. 

“I will be once everything takes effect.” Ernest says with a smile on his face. 

“What takes effect? What did you take!” Lucien says shaking Ernest’s shoulder. 

Ernest shrugs and Lucien stands up in front of him. Lucien kind of reminds Ernest of his father, towering above him and making him feel small.

Lucien grabs his arm and drags him towards the bathroom. Ernest is screaming at Lucien and begging for him to be left alone as they get into the bathroom. 

“I’m not letting go until you are okay.” Lucien says as he reaches over to turn the shower onto a cold spray.

Lucien gets into the tub and drags Ernest in too, wrapping his legs around Ernest’s. Ernest is shivering in the water and is constantly wiping it from his eyes. Ernest is still squirming in his grip but settles as Lucien pushes the hair from his sweaty and now wet forehead. Lucien holds Ernest’s hair out of the way and using his other hand to shove two fingers down his throat, getting him to vomit. 

Lucien is grossed out, his hand is covered in vomit as well as both of their clothes. Ernest is sobbing and trying to wiggle out of Lucien’s grip but he is stronger than the goth puts on. 

“It’s okay.. You’ll be okay.” Lucien says as he softly kisses the side of Ernest’s face. 

Ernest is crying, he doesn’t want to be okay anymore. He wants to be dead but he can’t tell that to Lucien as he is throwing up. It’s obvious that he had taken pills, a few undissolved pills in the vomit that was running down the drain. 

Lucien is petting his hair and softly kissing the side of his face, trying to show him that someone loves him. Lucien is even whispering song lyrics or little poems to him in hopes of calming him down, something Damien did whenever Lucien was upset. 

As Ernest is dry heaving, Lucien finally lets go and removes his legs from around him. Ernest is shaking and the water is getting in his eyes which is making him cry harder. Ernest’s voice is cracking as he pulls his legs to his chest and is sobbing into his knees. 

He’s pissed off, he just wanted to die but Lucien had to come and ruin everything. Lucien had to leave his own classes and save him from himself. 

“Give me your jacket. I’ll go wash it while you change.” Lucien says. 

Lucien had gotten out of the tub and was now squatting beside it. His hand softly playing with Ernest’s hair, feeling the boy shake his head ‘no.’

“Ernest come on buddy, it’s kinda gross.” Lucien says again, his voice softer like he was talking to his own child. 

Ernest removes the jacket and hands it over to Lucien, who stares at Ernest’s arms. It’s obvious that Ernest didn’t only use simple razor blades to hurt himself. It looked like he used pocket knifes by how they were angled and how deep the scars were. 

“I thought someone would have noticed by now and no one seemed the care-“ Ernest says as he stands up in the tub and gets out. 

“I would have cared if you told me Ernie. You know I care about you right?” Lucien explains as he lifts Ernest’s face up to look at him. 

It’s the first time that Ernest can see the tears in Lucien’s eyes. That Ernest can truly see how upset someone is because of what he did. How Lucien was breaking down; the one person that Ernest thought was so strong was calmly letting tears roll down in his face. 

“I like you Ernest-“ Lucien says as he wipes the tears off his cheeks and closes his eyes. 

This is the moment Ernest wished he wasn’t just throwing up, because he would so kiss Lucien right now. He wanted Lucien to know what he meant to him, he was more than just his friend. 

Ernest wraps his arms around Lucien, tucking his head into the crook of his neck and letting a few more tears slide down his cheeks. 

“I like you too... I have for so long.” Ernest says as he slides a hand into Lucien’s hair. 

Lucien holds Ernest tighter to his chest, hoping to show the younger male that it’s okay to be upset. Ernest is shaking in his grip and trying to keep himself calmed down, but can’t. There’s so much going on in his mind from Lucien to his overdose that he doesn’t know what to do. 

—+—+—

“Ernest wasn’t in class today. Is it his weekend and he took him early?” Trent asked in the teachers lounge, softly patting Hugo’s shoulder. 

“I have him all month. Wait- he wasn’t in class?” Hugo says and Trent nods. 

“Trent please, put a note on my class. I’m leaving. I’ll take the consequence later.” Hugo says, quickly running out of the room. 

Hugo had rushed home after speaking with the other English teacher, panic rising in his chest with every second. He needed to make sure Ernest was safe somewhere, it wasn’t his ex’s weekend to take Ernest so there was no reason for him to not be in class. 

Hugo unlocked the front door and was about to call for Ernest when he saw the bottle on the counter. A few tablets were thrown across the counter, a half drunk glass of water as well as Hugo’s prescription medication completely empty. 

He can hear mumbling from down the hall and he drops everything he’s holding, including the metal travel cup full of coffee. He didn’t care if his students assignments were ruined and he would have to just give everyone an A, he needed to make sure Ernest was okay. 

From the hallway he can see Lucien is here as well, and that’s when he notices his sons arms. Hugo back-steps himself back into the hallway and hides his face in his hands, he doesn’t want to sob and bring attention to himself. 

That’s why Ernest had been ignoring him for so long. It’s not that he meant to, it was his mind killing him. Ernest was hurting himself for attention and Hugo wasn’t smart enough to realise that’s why he was wearing a hoodie all the time. 

Hugo didn’t even seem to notice when Ernest would be crying at night either; never asking his son if he was okay. 

Hugo keeps his eyes closed as he stands in the hall, trying his hardest to keep from loosing it. He needed to calm down and talk to his son, actually talk to him instead of lecture him like he had done previously. 

As Hugo enters the bathroom, Lucien smiles at him and when Ernest notices Hugo he almost runs into him. Tightly hugging him and shoving his face into his chest. 

“Hey dad..” Ernest says softly, eyes closed and his hands gripping tight at his fathers jacket. 

More tears form in his eyes when he hears Ernest call him dad, which truly hasn’t happened in months or maybe even years. Ernest was always confused on what to call Hugo and his ex, Justin, usually calling Hugo by his first name and calling Justin Papa. 

“What happened?” Hugo asks and Lucien stands and rubs the back of neck for a few moments. 

“I tried texting him earlier and when he didn’t answer- I decided to ditch too and find out where he was. I saw his bike and hopped the fence.” Lucien explains before Ernest’s grip is tightening around his dad.

Ernest’s crying again, if it’s even possible for more tears to have formed and rolled down his face. 

“He was on the couch and kept talking about how it would be over soon and I took matters into my own hands. I forced him to throw up in the tub and got him calmed down enough to tell me what he did.” 

Hugo opens his other arm and signals Lucien into the hug, tightly hugging both the boys to his chest. 

“Thank you Lucien.” Hugo says, Lucien saying it was no issue. 

Lucien leaves shortly after, with a towel from the Vega residence to keep himself warm since he was wet. Underneath the towel, he had one of Ernest’s jackets too. 

Something that smelt like his new boyfriend. 

—+—+—

Hugo had waited for Ernest to shower and get cleaned up before questioning him. Hugo even made dinner for the two in hopes that it would all go smoother if they had food to fill the awkward silence. 

Hugo had fixed their plates and they were now sitting at the table. Ernest is wearing a long sleeved shirt, hoping that his father would kind of forget about the scars covering his arms. 

“I’m sorry.” Ernest says as he spins the pasta on his fork and eats a mouthful. 

Hugo is trying to think of something to say without hurting his own feelings as well. Yes he was the one in the wrong but so was Ernest. He should have told his father and he should have been a better to his child. 

“Don’t be. I should have noticed what you were going through and actually been a dad.” Hugo says looking over at Ernest who shrugs. 

“Papa didn’t notice either. I smoked pot in his house and he never cared. At least here you make me dinner every day.” Ernest says before filling his mouth with food. 

That sentence shuts them up for a while, both of them silently eating their dinner. As Ernest’s plate empties, Hugo can hear a small sniffle coming from his son. 

“If I was a better son I wouldn’t be this much trouble.” Ernest sniffles, pulling the sleeve down and over his fist as he props his head up on the table. 

“If I was a better father I would have noticed you struggling. I would have done something before you did all of this to yourself.” Hugo says and Ernest shrugs before giving a small smile that’s accompanied with a blush. 

“Something good did come out of it at least.” Ernest is blushing and kind of pulling the hair into his face. 

“Oh?” Hugo asks, trying to catch up with the amount of food his son ate. 

“Yeah... Lucien and I are dating now.” Ernest says with a smile, perhaps the first one that Hugo had seen in years. 

“I’m proud of you for finally opening up to him. I know you’ve liked him for a while.” Hugo smiles and Ernest smiles in return. 

It had been so long since Ernest heard that his dad was proud of him. And he never wanted that to end. 

Even if it wasn’t for doing good at school, it was a start to something that would be helpful for both of them.


	3. How Do I Know? (Part Two of Two)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Part Two to the previous chapter titled, “I Could Have Been A Better Son.”

To Lucien, Ernest seemed perfectly fine. They had been together six months, almost to the exact day, and spent almost every minute together. Lucien was growing even more attracted to Ernest with every day and it was turning from a crush to a serious loving for the boy. 

Ernest was falling apart. 

His papa found out what he told Hugo and it’s getting even harder for him. He’s stopped reminding Ernest to take his anti-depressants, which in result has him breaking down every night to the point of him hurting himself. His thoughts are eating him alive and he doesn’t know how to express this to anyone. 

Lucien was extremely proud of Ernest when the scars had faded, that the boy stopped wearing the orange hoodie and opted for just long sleeves. Ernest had moved the marking from his arms to his legs, which were now marked and perhaps scarred for the rest of his life. 

Lucien was holding Ernest’s hand underneath the cafeteria table. It was the one thing that seriously bothered him about their relationship, was the fact that they had to keep it hidden. 

The entire school knew Lucien was bisexual, being seen with both guys and girls. Something about coming out terrified Ernest and the last thing he wanted was to be made fun of more than he already was. 

“Damien’s at the shelter today if you wanted to hang out after school.” Lucien suggests, softly rubbing his thumb over the back of Ernest’s hand. 

“I’d love that but I can’t.” Ernest says softly squeezing Lucien’s hand. 

“It’s his weekend isn’t it?” Lucien asks and Ernest just nods before pushing his lunch tray away from him. 

Lucien removes his hand from Ernest’s and wraps his arm around his boyfriends waist. Ernest shakes his head and moves over from Lucien, putting enough room between them for a book to lay flat. 

“Ernest I can’t.. I can’t do this anymore.” Lucien says, running a hand through his hair. 

“Then fucking leave me then.” Ernest spits back, grabbing his books and leaving the table. 

Lucien watches Ernest storm out of the cafeteria, and just as Lucien’s about to chase after him the bell singles for the next class period. Lucien grabs his things and takes his phone from his pocket to send Ernest a message. 

Ernest can feel the phone vibrate but doesn’t pull it out, pushing past students to find his Dad. He knows it’s inappropriate but right now he needed him and he needed help. 

“Whoa whoa.. Mijo what’s going on?” Hugo asks, when he sees Ernest coming over with tears in his eyes and a few on his cheeks. 

“It’s Lucien- I just.. I really like him dad and I think he just broke up with me.” Ernest’s crying and gripping his books even tighter, trying to find some affection in them. 

Hugo looks around the halls for a moment before making eye contact with the other English teacher, Trent. He gives a nod and Hugo smiles back, taking Ernest down the hall to the teachers lounge and locking it behind them. 

“What makes you think that?” Hugo asks and Ernest drops his books before throwing himself at his dad. 

Ernest’s face is shoved into his Dad’s chest, arms wrapped tightly around him as he sobs. He is panicking bad enough that his breathing is shallow and he is shaking in his dads arms. 

“He said he can’t anymore and I just pinned it together. I don’t want to loose him dad.” Ernest gasps, tears streaming down his face and onto his fathers clothes. 

“He could be confiding in you. Lucien is not going to break up with you Ernest, the few times all of us have eaten dinner together he can’t keep his eyes off you.” Hugo says as he rubs Ernest’s back and the next bell rings to signal class was starting. 

“Ernest sit in here and calm down alright?“ Hugo says and Ernest nods. 

“Be safe mijo. I’ll message your teacher and let him know you went home early.” Hugo lifts up Ernest’s head by his chin and Ernest gives a small smile. 

“I’m taking you to Justin’s place tonight so we can talk more then. If that’s alright?” Hugo asks and Ernest responds with a small nod. 

Hugo kisses Ernest’s forehead before leaving the room, the door closing softly behind him. Ernest plops into one of the chairs and lays his head down on the table. 

Absentmindedly, he starts scratching his nails across his arm to inflict some amount of pain. Ernest wants so much more than to hurt himself; Lucien’s one of the few things that’s still keeping him alive. 

Lucien’s in class tapping his foot on the floor. Doodling on a piece of paper anything to take his mind off of Ernest. He’s written words in a scribbled font to try and get the thoughts out of his mind but nothing is working. 

Everything for the next few classes flow together in a blur, Ernest trying to keep himself sane in the second floor teacher’s lounge and Lucien trying to find Ernest in the halls to make sure he’s alright. 

With the final bell, Lucien’s dashing to Hugo’s classroom. Hoping to catch him before he leaves with Hugo and he doesn’t see him all weekend. Lucien’s taking the stairs two steps at a time and sees the boy standing with Hugo outside his class. 

Ernest catches Lucien’s eyes in the hall and he ducks his head down. The last thing Ernest wanted before this weekend was for Lucien to actually break up with him. 

“Ernie wait..” Lucien attempts to take Ernest’s arms but he folds them to his chest. 

“What? Wanted to break up properly before this shitty weekend?” Ernest says, Hugo softly hitting his arm. 

Mainly for his language than for how badly he spoke of his father; Hugo wanted full custody over Ernest but feared loosing Ernest in the battle. The last thing the man needed was to be alone, the divorce was hard enough on him. 

“That’s not what I wanted to say Ernest. You interpreted it that way.” Lucien says trying to keep himself from getting mad at the younger boy. 

“What do you want?” Ernest says again, voice stern with a small scowl on his face. 

Even if he was trying to act tough, he looks more upset that pissed off at this point. Lucien runs a hand through his hair, angry with himself for having such issues with expressing his emotions. 

“Check your fucking texts then you dumbass. Come back if you really feel the same.” Lucien says, turning his back and bolting back down the hall. 

Lucien is covering his mouth with his hand as he runs past people and towards his car. It’s in the farthest corner of the parking lot, which he regretted right now. The instant the door is closed behind Lucien, a loud sob leaves his mouth as he rests his forehead on the steering wheel. 

His heart is shattered. 

All Lucien wanted to do was sit in his car and cry for a few minutes, but he cranks it anyways. The soft tones of My Chemical Romance cutting through the air stop his tears for the few minutes of him driving home. 

Pulling into the driveway of his house, he parks the car and lays his head against the steering wheel listening to the lyrics. All Lucien can do is start crying, because of the stupid boy that was running through his mind. 

It’s perhaps one of Lucien’s favourite songs by the band, the song I Don’t Love You of off the Black Parade record. He’s sobbing even harder as the lyrics hit his heart even harder than they normally would. 

The only thought coursing through his mind was to call Damien. Yes, Damien was busy at work, but right now Lucien needed someone to talk too and his dad was the best option. And now Damien was perhaps Lucien’s only option. 

“Dad? I need you to come home..” Lucien says through the phone, his other arm wrapped around himself. 

Lucien is resting on the steering wheel, his arm wrapped tightly around his stomach like he’s about to throw up. So many emotions are coursing through him that he doesn’t know if it’s heartache or stomach pains. 

“Did something happen with Ernest? I thought he was coming over this afternoon.” Damien asks, setting a puppy down onto the floor and leaving the dog room. 

“I think we broke up-“ Lucien says, tears starting to reproduce and roll down his face. 

Damien is taken aback by the sentence. The couple seemed so close that nothing could have broken them apart. Damien can hear Lucien crying through the phone, the occasional sniffle coming through the line. 

“I’m on my way.” Damien says before quickly hanging up. 

He doesn’t even tell Mary why he is leaving so early, just saying that Lucien needs him. When he gets home, he runs inside and can hear the music coming from upstairs. Following the tones, he sees Lucien laying in bed with Ernest’s jacket in his arms. 

“Hey baby bat.. What happened?” Damien says, coming over and sitting on the floor beside his sons bed. 

Lucien sniffles and runs a hand through his hair, but it falls immediately back into place. The orange jacket was being held tightly in his arms, the only thing that truly seems to be keeping him happy. 

“I- I said I loved him dad.“ Lucien sobs, his voice cracking as he plays with the drawstrings of the jacket. 

“Did he say anything back?” Damien says and Lucien points to his phone that’s across the room.

“I threw it after reading his response..” Lucien sniffles, remembering the words and then throws the jacket across the room. 

The jacket almost hits Damien in the face, but dodging just in time to miss it.

“Whoa.. Bat come on how bad is it?” Damien says crouching to get the phone by the door.

“I-It’s b-bad.” Lucien says, a loud sob leaving his throat as more tears slide down his face. 

Lucien throws the blanket over his head, his hair barely sticking out as he tries to get a grip of himself. Trying to calm himself down and try to have a proper conversation with Damien. 

As Damien grabs the phone, he presses the home button and stares at his sons lock screen. It was of Lucien and Ernest kissing, perhaps he would change it at some point. Damien continues to type the password and sees the message exchange between his son and Ernest. 

‘i love you.’ Was all Lucien had typed. 

A tad cliche to send through text, but Lucien was never really good with words to express those kinds of things. It looks as if the message was sent earlier in the day, as Ernest’s response came in at three in the afternoon. 

‘i don’t’

Damien sets the phone down and looks over at his son, who’s staring at the ceiling. Lucien’s chest is spasming with quiet cries, his face smeared with makeup. Damien’s heart is breaking for Lucien as he can feel the pain his son is going through. 

“Hey dad?” Lucien asks, sitting up in the bed and trying to wipe the tears from his face. 

“Yes my bat?” Damien replies as he sits next to his son on the bed. 

Lucien rests his head onto his fathers shoulder and lets out a shaky sigh. Damien wraps his arm around his son’s waist as Lucien slides closer. 

“Will anyone ever love me?” Lucien asks, his voice shaking as he reaches up to wipe the tears off his face. 

“Because I really want Ernie to love me as much as I love him.”

Lucien’s voice fades out near the end of his sentence as Damien wraps his arms around him. Damien is trying his hardest to console his son, surprised that he is actually letting Damien help. 

“Would it help if I went and got Chinese food for dinner? We can watch a movie and I’ll let you drink too.” Damien suggests, Lucien letting out a soft Yes Please. 

“I’ll shower off the smell of dog and go get it. Be safe baby.” Damien says as he softly kisses Lucien’s forehead. 

In this moment, all Lucien wanted to do was take it out on himself. 

Lucien had been clean for almost two years after a suicide attempt, but just seeing his son like this brought back the memories. Damien couldn’t handle seeing his son that depressed again, so any chance he could he told him to be safe. 

Ernest is sitting on the bed at Justin’s house, rocking back and forth, holding his cheek with one hand. He’s holding his phone in his other hand with a razor blade touching the screen. Not entirely sure if he should call for help or help himself by cutting. 

Ernest is typing in a number before realising who’s it really was. He’s almost immediately sent to voicemail and he’s sobbing over the voicemail reminder. 

“Lucien? Lucy please.. I’m so sorry I just- I need you to help me. To give me something-I’m at Justin’s and I, I really want to fucking kill myself. I don’t want to be here anymore,” Ernest’s almost begging Lucien for a reason to stay alive, before hanging up and a loud sob leaves his throat. 

Because Lucien is officially done with him. 

Justin is downstairs with a couple of his buddies, too drunk to even hear his son sobbing upstairs. Or perhaps he blocked the noise out in hopes that he would eventually shut up. 

Ernest is shoving his sleeves up his arms, taking the metal and shoving it into his wrist. Ernest is gasping as he pulls it across, his hands shaking as he watches the blood trickle down his arm. His only thought is to call his dad for help, but only after releasing a little bit more of his pain. 

“Daddy?” Ernest asks, trying to keep himself from sobbing too loud into the phone. 

“Mijo? Are you alright?” Hugo asks, grabbing his keys from the table and sliding on shoes that were by the door. 

“I- I want to kill myself Daddy. It’s too much and I, I don’t know what to do.” Ernest is sobbing into the phone, holding the blade in his other hand and staring at the blood that is slowly trickling down his arm. 

“I’m coming baby I promise. I’ll take the faster way okay? Can you stay on the line with me?” Hugo asks, starting the car and pressing speaker. 

The entire drive Hugo is speeding, rushing down every street and running a few stop signs. He couldn’t have cared if he received a ticket, he needed to make sure his baby was alright. 

Hugo is babbling with Ernest to keep him on the line, to try and change his mind from the things that were coursing through him. The evil thoughts that were pushing through his mind and forcing these thoughts. 

—+—+—

“I just pulled in. I’m coming upstairs okay? You can hang up I’ll be in there soon.” Hugo says and waits for Ernest to hang up.

Hugo unlocks the front door and shoves past Justin, bolting up the stairs. Ignoring the yelling from Justin as he was technically “trespassing.” Ernest is sitting on the edge of the bed, with a washcloth pressed firmly to his arm. 

“I-I’m sorry...” Ernest says as he looks down to his arm, his shoulders dropping a little. 

“It’s okay. You’re okay, we can figure this out together.” Hugo says, crouching in front of Ernest and pushing the hair away from his face. 

Ernest nods softly and Hugo steps back to throw random things in a bag for Ernest. Mostly his clothes, school supplies, and anything else that would fit. Tears are streaming down Hugo’s face because he never thought it had gotten this bad, to the point of Ernest actually wanting to die. 

He didn’t plan to ever send Ernest back here again, he would have police come and clean out the rest of his room later. As the majority of his clothes from Justin could fit a single backpack. 

Ernest follows his Dad out of the home and down to his car, sitting in the passenger seat. The washcloth is under his sleeve, the marks still slowly releasing blood with every pump of his broken heart. 

Hugo is yelling with Justin on the front porch, Ernest sitting in seat and staring at his lap. He watches as Justin smacks Hugo, flinching as his own face stings; before watching Hugo throw Justin against the side of the house.

“Don’t you ever touch Ernest and I again. I don’t care how many fucking courts I need to go through to get your ass in jail and away from us, but I’m willing to do it.” Hugo says before storming off the front porch. 

It takes a few minutes of driving for Hugo is steam off, music playing to fill the silence. As they get onto the interstate, Ernest looks over at Hugo and then back out the window before speaking. 

“Lucien said he loves me.”

“What did you say back to him?” Hugo grips the steering wheel tighter, looking over at Ernest as he sighs. 

Ernest has always been a shy and awkward kid, who has always had a hard time expressing his emotions.

“I said I didn’t love him because I don’t really know what love is.” Ernest sighs, tucking hair behind his ear. 

“Like I know you love me but other than that like- I don’t know of anyone else that has ever loved me before. Shit I know I haven’t.” Ernest says, Hugo letting the language slide this time. 

“Justin loved you as a baby, he was an amazing dad. But as you got older, the drinking started and I knew I couldn’t keep him in the house with you. Since you were so young I thought it would be a good idea to do dual custody with me being the primary parent.” Hugo says, running a hand through his hair as he now realised how bad of an idea it was. 

“Back onto Lucien though, does seeing Lucien make you smile? Make you want to protect the boy with everything you have? Does holding his hand make your face hot as you remember that no one else has the privilege of holding his hand?” Hugo asks and Ernest smiles a little. 

“That’s love Ernest. It’s different for everybody, but it is mainly felt as happiness that never seems to go away. A smile constantly plastered to your face even if you just think about them.” Hugo says as Ernest nods and stares out the window. 

It’s another forty or so minutes before the Vega’s are pulling into the culdesac. Hugo can barely stop the car before Ernest is already out and running down to the Bloodmarch residence. 

Ernest is knocking on the door of the house, without any knowledge of how late it was. He knew Lucien was a night owl because they would stay on the phone into early hours of the morning, he just hoped Damien was the same way. 

“Good evening Ernest.” Damien smiles as he opens the door, before a frown spreads across his face. 

“How long has Justin been hitting you?” Damien asks, not really expecting an answer as he pulls Ernest inside. 

Damien is heading to the freezer to get an ice pack and wrap it in a towel, hoping to stop the swelling on Ernest’s face. The music from Lucien’s room is almost echoing throughout the house, obvious that he was trying to block out any of his emotions with Gerard Way. 

“Here,” Damien offers and runs a hand through his own hair. 

“I’d go see him if I were you.” Damien says as he sits on the couch and reaches for his tea. 

“Should I really? I’m just not sure, he was really mad at me.” Ernest sits beside Damien and holds the ice to his face, it numbing the pain almost immediately. 

“I had to take his phone from him when you called. He wanted to answer it so badly, but I figured maybe a few hours away from each other would help. Lucien has locked himself in his room now for about five hours.” Damien says, sipping from the mug and reaching to push the hair from Ernest’s eyes. 

“Go upstairs. I’ll be down here if you need me.” Damien says, shooing Ernest off. 

The jacket Lucien was wearing reminded him of Ernest, the small boy who couldn’t hurt a fly but managed to destroy his heart. The knife resembling his past hurts and how bad he wants to hurt himself now. It was Lucien’s fault for opening his fat mouth and hurting their relationship. 

Lucien’s head is pounding from all the wine, having one glass in front of his dad but chugging the rest of the bottle when he went to shower. Damien knew Lucien snuck off with the bottle, but he also didn’t mind. Damien knew his son needed something to calm himself and he would rather have him drunk in his own home than drunk out in public. 

Damien did not know that Lucien has an alcohol problem, the liquid being the something that mellowed out the pain in his chest. That Lucien had a flask of whiskey under his bed, sneaking over to Robert’s and paying him for the liquor. Robert knew he was an enabler, but he would rather have the poor kid drunk than dead.

Ernest goes to the door and opens it, immediately being pelted in the face by a pillow. Not even able to see Lucien on the bed well enough. 

“Fuck off.” Lucien says, his voice shaking slightly and almost hoarse. 

Has Lucien spent the entire afternoon crying over the stupid boy? Over the boy that couldn’t even describe what love was an hour ago?

Ernest ignores the request and walks over to the bed, sitting on the ground beside him and grabbing Lucien’s hand. Ernest notices the knife and takes it from him, closing it and resting it on the floor. Lucien can’t pull his hand back as Ernest laces their fingers together and softly sighs in content. 

Ernest softly kisses Lucien’s hand before unlacing them, shoving his shirt sleeve up. The moment Lucien sees the towel he knows, the red colouring an immediate give away. 

Lucien leans over the edge of the bed and softly kisses Ernest’s forehead. Resting his head on his for a few moments, rubbing his thumb over Ernest’s cheek. 

“Why is it so cold?” Lucien asks, letting his thumb rest on his cheekbone. 

“J-Justin hit me and Damien gave me ice for it-“ Ernest starts, tears trickling down his cheeks and being rubbed off by Lucien’s finger. 

“I- I thought I’d be better off dead and I panicked. I never knew what being in love was, because Justin never loved me and I felt that Hugo had to love me.” Ernest explains, placing his hand on top of Lucien’s. 

“Hugo explained it to me as protecting you, and being lucky to be the one to hold your hand. And I think I love you too Lucy- I think I’m falling in love with you.”

Lucien moves from Ernest’s face and pats the bed, Ernest kicking his shoes off and jumping in the bed. Cuddling close to Lucien, as he wraps his arms around the elder boy and softly kisses his neck. 

“I’ll close this, but keep your pants on! Wear a condom!” Damien says as he closes the door and walks down the hall to his bedroom. 

Lucien is blushing as he leans down to kiss Ernest, holding his cheek in his hand before sliding it into the boy’s curly hair. Ernest can feel his heart racing as he sliding his hands to Lucien’s waist and is gripping at the other boys shirt. 

“You smell like wine,” Ernest whispers, biting the boy’s lower lip and keeping their faces presses together. 

“It helps numb my pain. Maybe I’ve been around Robert too long.” Lucien says, a small laugh leaving his throat as he runs his hand across Ernest’s cheek. 

Ernest closes the gap between them, forcing one of his legs in between Lucien’s. Trying to bring them closer without actually getting sexual. 

“I love you so much Ernie..” Lucien says as they separate, mainly for air as after a few gasps they are reconnected. 

The boys are almost dry humping each other, trying to get as close as possible. The non-sexual thoughts Ernest was having were being thrown out the window. Ernest wanted Lucien to touch him, to bring them closer and show Ernest was love was really like. Lucien eventually climbs on top of Ernest, almost laying on him as they kiss. 

They were an odd couple, the goth kid and the stoner boy. One failing his courses and the other excelling in all his classes. 

Perhaps the old saying has always been correct; that opposites do attract.


End file.
